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Azure Firewall vs Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.4
Azure Firewall is cost-effective, reducing costs and network attacks, with predictable expenses and significant return on investment for users.
Sentiment score
7.8
Organizations reported rapid returns with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall, noting cost savings, improved metrics, and enhanced security controls.
After implementing threat intelligence with Azure Firewall, we were able to reduce attacks by 60 to 70 percent, and our machines were more free to handle the correct user traffic from real people.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
With Azure Firewall on the cloud, you just need to subscribe to the firewall, configure it, and it will help you protect your environment.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
With Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall, that need is completely eradicated.
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
I believe there is a return on investment with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall for every company that deploys it, as they typically see returns quickly, often within a few months, and the value measured is reasonable and comes back quickly.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
Because of the integrated ecosystem, we are able to gain better insight and develop better controls around securing our system.
Manager, Network at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.8
Azure Firewall support is responsive, especially for enterprises, but complex issues may cause delays despite knowledgeable staff.
Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, despite licensing concerns and shift change issues.
Microsoft provides excellent customer support, especially with premium support plans.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nevertheless, the final support from Microsoft remains effective.
Information Technology Architect at GMS INC
With Azure products, customer support is really good.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
I would evaluate my customer service and technical support experience as fantastic.
Manager, Network at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
I would evaluate the customer service and technical support as a white-glove experience for sure.
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
I evaluate the customer service and technical support as excellent, as the support provided by Cisco is superior to other companies I have dealt with across various products.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.7
Azure Firewall is praised for automatic scalability, ideal for global deployment and expansion, though some seek alternative solutions.
Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall scales effectively, supports East-West traffic, and is praised despite some deployment challenges.
Based on my experience, I would rate it nine out of ten for scalability.
Cybersecurity Engineer at AXSYS
Azure Firewall is highly scalable, and I would give it a scalability rating of nine out of ten.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
When we started deploying the solution, it was not a mature product at times.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
I find that Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is well-prepared to scale with the growing needs of my organization, as it is designed with scalability in mind.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
It scales well with the growing needs of my organization.
IT Director at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall scales well with the growing needs of our organization.
Senior Domain Architect II at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Users praise Azure Firewall for its high stability and reliability, achieving 99.95% uptime, ensuring consistent performance across environments.
Sentiment score
8.1
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall's stability has improved, resolving initial issues and ensuring a smooth transition without disruptions.
The stability of Azure Firewall is excellent.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
For our use case, Azure Firewall is stable enough.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or performance issues.
Manager, Network at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
No downtime or crashes experienced once it has been onboarded.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
I have not experienced any downtime or crashes with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall.
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
 

Room For Improvement

Azure Firewall users seek enhanced security features, better integration, cost efficiency, user-friendly interface, and performance consistency across regions.
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall needs improved licensing, networking features, integration, documentation, pricing, and enhanced security product support.
If Azure Firewall can integrate identity features, it will help deliver additional next-generation capabilities.
Solutions Area Lead at a tech consulting company with 501-1,000 employees
If there were dashboards that came automatically set up so we could know how our threat intelligence is working and how much traffic is being blocked, that would help.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
Improvement in reporting and better visibility into network traffic would also be beneficial.
Cybersecurity Engineer at AXSYS
Licensing is always a pain point and represents the worst aspect of the solution.
Senior Domain Architect II at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Whenever we ask for a feature while working with Cisco, within a day, we get the feature added.
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall could be improved by refining the documentation around the migration path from Cisco Defense Orchestrator or Farsight Manager because when we were early adopters, the migration path was quite unset and very vague and ambiguous.
Director of Security Solutions North America at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

Azure Firewall offers integration benefits and flexibility, but its pay-as-you-go model can be costly for data-heavy use.
Enterprise buyers find Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall affordable and valuable, with special pricing, reinvestment potential, and justified investment benefits.
The standard functionality for API Management is at a zero level, and then the next level is one.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Azure Firewall is quite expensive, with a high cost.
DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
Azure Firewall is subscription-based, which is advantageous as there is no need for upfront payment.
Information Technology Architect at GMS INC
While some vendors offer cheaper options, the real value lies in the technology and the support provided by Talos and TAC, justifying its price in comparison to other vendors.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
Pricing has been competitive, and any savings we make on infrastructure can be reinvested in patient experience, care, and safety.
Manager, Network at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with the pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been satisfactory.
IT Director at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
 

Valuable Features

Azure Firewall ensures robust security with features like policy control, threat intelligence, scalability, and seamless Azure integration.
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall offers centralized management, integration, monitoring, segmentation, and machine learning for streamlined security operations and cost savings.
We have to combine multiple features and multiple products, and then we can say that this is more cost-effective and works properly to ensure the security posture of our cloud deployments.
Senior Manager, Information Security at NetSol Technologies Inc.
With Azure Firewall on the cloud, you just need to subscribe to the firewall, configure it, and it will help you protect your environment.
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Azure Firewall helped us secure our environment and reduce manual effort, and it also reduced the risk of vulnerabilities.
Cloud Architect at a outsourcing company with 51-200 employees
The centralized management console has helped my organization streamline security policies because we have a single place to view logs, ingestion, and to correlate all logs and events from one dashboard.
Solution Principal Senior . at Insight
We also have the ability to document changes and indeed have the ability to roll back failed changes in a much more expeditious manner with an audit trail, which ensures that both our network team and our security and compliance organizations are confident that we can not only effectively implement change, but we can also manage the risk that comes along with change.
Director of Security Solutions North America at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable feature is the integration with all of the other Cisco tools that we have, and its platform-first approach.
Manager, Network at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Azure Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
13th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
45
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall
Ranking in Firewalls
19th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Firewall Security Management (8th)
 

Featured Reviews

AD
Technical Solution Architect at liwa
Has enabled us to manage internal access securely but lacks accessible documentation for deeper integration
We haven't required any support, but overall, Microsoft support is good. Whenever we raise any concern, they are supporting us on time. Currently it is good. We are not a public-facing company; it is a retail company only, so that's why I don't think it is required. We don't have an e-commerce solution on Azure. For that, we are using a different stack for the e-commerce portal, so that is not in Azure. We are only using it for business applications, and I think L3 filtering in network security suffices for our problem currently. Regarding scalability for Azure Firewall, we don't need it here because the request to the application is internal. All are internal users. So there is not much request to get into the application, so scalability is not required for us in the current scenario.
BC
Sales And Brand Strategist at CrossConnect
Smart switching has transformed data center security and now simplifies stateful segmentation
To improve Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall, I think right now awareness is the biggest area for improvement. Cisco should focus on raising awareness about what the firewall on the switch actually is and how policy has changed. That is a massive story that has not been emphasized enough regarding saving time and effort due to the combination of all these tools. From a feature perspective, I am discovering new features as we deploy, so I do not know if there is a good answer yet because we are at the forefront of this technology. I can tell you that whenever we ask for a feature while working with Cisco, within a day, we get the feature added. For instance, understanding flow data is crucial. Within the N9300, to be able to apply the policy as we are discussing, you need to understand your network flow and what communicates with what. We were able to collaborate with the Cisco BU to refine how we consume that data and migrate old policies to the new structure necessary with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall and HyperShield.
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915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise22
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is a better choice, Azure Firewall or Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls?
Azure Firewall Vs. Palo Alto Network NG Firewalls Both solutions provide stellar stability and security. Azure Firewall is easy to use and provides excellent support. Valuable features include int...
How does Azure Firewall compare with Palo Alto Networks VM Series?
Both products are very stable and easily scalable. The setup of Azure Firewall is easy and very user-friendly and the overall cost is reasonable. Azure Firewall offers a solid threat awareness, can...
Which would you recommend - FortiGate VM or Azure Firewall?
Both of these solutions are excellent options that provide flexible scalability and solid security. Fortinet Fortigate VM integrates well and has excellent centralized reporting. It is very easy to...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is that it was minimal compared to the cost difference between what traditional N9300 would have cost to empo...
What needs improvement with Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall could be improved by refining the documentation around the migration path from Cisco Defense Orchestrator or Farsight Manager because when we were early adopters, the mig...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall?
My main use case for Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall is the consolidation of multiple tools into one management platform.A specific example of how I use Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall for consolidation is t...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Azure Firewall vs. Cisco Hybrid Mesh Firewall and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.